Sakamoto, Kerri

Kerri Sakamoto was born in Toronto in 1960. She grew up in the mostly white suburban Etobicoke of the 1960s and 70s.

Her family was subjected to the internment of Japanese Canadians and forced to live in its camps, losing the homes and businesses they worked hard to acquire. Kerri’s parents often avoided talking about Japanese internment camps and their Japanese culture and history, as the family had been subjected to racial taunts throughout their lives. Kerri was unaware of the internment camps until she read about them in a magazine article at the age of twenty and subsequently worked with Joy Kogawa in the redress movement for two years.

She studied English and French at the University of Toronto and completed a Master’s in English from New York University, where she began writing her award-winning debut novel, The Electrical Field. She is the recipient of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for best first book and was a finalist for a Governor General’s Award. Her novels often explore the experience of Japanese Canadians and are published in translation internationally. Kerri has also written essays on visual art, screenplays and collaborated with filmmakers.

She has served as a judge of the Governor General’s Literary Awards, a member of the Canadian jury at the Toronto International Film Festival, and a Distinguished Visitor at University College in the University of Toronto.

She works and resides in Toronto.

Created by Alston So, March 2026.